The grassroots Latino advertising publication El Clasificado was awarded ten Jose© Marta­ awards for publishing excellence at the 25th annual National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) convention, hosted March 12-14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Of the ten, six were top Gold honors for El Clasificado, including Outstanding Circulation Program and Outstanding Classified Section, both of which the company has eight previous gold wins. A seventh gold award was bestowed on El Clasificado’s Al Borde.com for its weekly e-newsletter.

Particularly significant for El Clasificado was the gold award it received for Percent Increase in Ad Dollars, which was 8% for the 2009 calendar year. Despite the economic slump in a time when ad revenues have plummeted, El Clasificado was still able to grow, not by raising rates, but through aggressive geographic expansion in print and online, stated Joe Badame, Chief Operations Officer and co-founder of El Clasificado.

El Clasificado penetrated Coachella, the High Desert, and Bakersfield in 2009 alone through print, and it now offers a local version of El Clasificado.com to all major Hispanic markets in the U.S. and Latin America. Now with over 300,000 online monthly visitors going to El Clasificado.com and more than 1.5 million weekly readers picking up El Clasificado, we have created a significant marketplace for advertisers who want to connect with U. S. Hispanic consumers, assessed Mr. Badame.

To facilitate navigation for media buyers choosing a buyer persona to target from the many print and digital products El Clasificado offers, EC Hispanic Media (www.echispanicmedia.com) –another gold award recipient– was created, and it clearly defines and showcases all the distinct brands in the Hispanic Marketplace: Su Socio de Negocios and Pacos List for small business owners, Quinceanera.com for young Latinas, Al Borde.com for trend setting young Latinos, Salud y Niños for Hispanic families and of course El Clasificado for the overall Hispanic market.

Were committed to providing the grassroots Latino market with a quality product that works for them, and were working harder than ever to achieve this. Recognitions like that of the NAHP are excellent motivators for which we and the entire El Clasificado team are very grateful,â?? stated El Clasificado CEO, Martha de la Torre.

The Jose Marti Publishing Awards are presented by the NAHP, Inc., a nonprofit, non-partisan trade advocacy organization representing the leading Spanish language publications in the U.S., including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Jose© Marta­ Publishing Awards are the largest Hispanic Media awards in the United States, with over 90 print categories and 800+ entries received for articles, photos, digital platforms and publications as a whole.

El Clasificado is a multi-media print, online and grassroots event marketing solutions company that connects buyers and sellers in the Hispanic community through its niche-oriented websites and brands. A verified publication with a weekly circulation of 400,000, El Clasificado print reaches more than 1.5 million Latinos and is distributed in more than 200 cities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Diego and Kern Counties.

For a complete list of awards, please contact Mart­a Elena Aguilar (323) 837-4094 meaguilar@elclasificado.com.